Recap: Needles Mustangs vs. Awaken Christian Lions
The Needles Mustangs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine matches by 21 points or more this season. Everything went their way against Awaken Christian on Tuesday as Needles made off with a 72-51 victory. The victory was just business as usual for Needles, who after nine games remain undefeated this season.
Xavier Russell continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 27 points and 11 steals. Russell is absolutely dominating the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Luca Walema, who scored 24 points along with eight rebounds and three blocks.
Needles pushed their record up to 9-0 with that win, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 31.7 points. As for Awaken Christian, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-3.
Needles will be home for the holidays to greet Lincoln County at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Lincoln County focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 16 on Tuesday. Awaken Christian will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Adelson at 6:30 p.m. on January 3, 2024.